A King Of Infinite Space
by LeeAna
Summary: It always takes something to make someone see clear. Hameron, maybe a bit HouseCuddy and WilsonCuddy later on. Most AngstHurtComfort
1. Vicodin

This story takes place somewhere between the events of season 3. Since I'm still watching Season 3. I decided to keep the original team. So, no blonde Cameron and no new team.

**Chapter One**

**Vicodin **

Vicodin is commonly known as a painkiller. It has a high psychological dependence and low to medium physical addiction. It is used to manage pain and most commonly prescribed for relief of mild to moderate pain of acute, chronic or post-operative types. Known side effects are allergic reaction, weak breathing, seizures, clammy skin, severe weakness, dizziness, hyperventilation, unconsciousness, yellowing of eyes or skin, unusual fatigue, bleeding, bruising, constipation, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, muscle twitches, sweating, hot flashes, itching, tinnitus, hearing loss, decreased urination and decreased sex drive. Vicodin also has depressant effects on the central nervous system. However, some of the less mundane effects can be desirable effects that are sought after by some. Those effects include euphoria and drowsiness, as well as slowing the pulse. It may also cause stomach ulcers, although this is assumed to be due to the addition of other analgesics.

All this is very known by Dr. Gregory House, who swallows again a pill dry. It's the 20th this day, he guesses, but he's not sure.

There are just a few things more painful in live than watching a loved person fading away, leaving. Seeing the bodies part until there's nothing more than sadness and loneliness.

This is what's going through his mind lately. But let's start from the beginning:

It all started a few months ago, on a cold and rainy day in September. There was this patient Cuddy knew for some incomprehensible reasons. He was some kind of a VIP for her since he was rich, an artist and therefore a potential victim for her donation plea after he was healed. But Cuddy hadn't to actually "work" with him. House had, and his team too. And that patient was so beyond all bearing that even Chase started to like House more.

"This is just too much..." Cameron groaned while sitting at the office table. "He already has been here for a week and we still didn't find out what's wrong with him..."

"Except that he could be House's evil twin." Forman added dryly.

"Now I feel offended."

House limped into the room and stopped, looking puzzled at his three employees.

"Why are you all looking so tired. Does our patient give you a hard time?" he asked sarcastically and made it then over to the counter to get some water for his next vicodin. He anyhow managed not to swallow it dry when Cameron is watching him.

After he retched the pill down he thought for a second of actually cheering his team up, but this was just too piffling for him, so he hobbled over to the white board, took his pen and looked awaiting. "Any new theories?"

A silent sigh came from Chase and House immediately chose him to be his first informant.

"Chase? It is not my fault that this takes you all so long. If you just would think a bit faster, you'd have gotten rid off this guy already!"

Chase didn't even bother to roll his eyes. "All test were negative. Nothing wrong with his lungs, liver, heart, stomach, brain or other bowels. Although I'm sure there has to be something wrong with his brain." The last sentence came out too dry to be taken honest.

"Have you had a look on his feet?" The scruffy doc just asked and lifted his brows.

"No." The Australian answered in his typical dialect.

"So, then you haven't examined all of him. Go, do the tests again."

"But we did them already three times!" Cameron objected. This was the point House turned his attention to her. He hasn't noticed how tired she looked and it took him a few seconds to snort at her comment.

"Then do them again until you have some good ideas and theories to come up with!" With that he left the room through the glass door into his office.

Cameron, Chase and Foreman just watched him leave, each of them feeling annoyed by their boss and this patient.

**HHHHHHHH**

"Don't you have some other sheets?!"

Cameron winced at the volume the voice of that patient could reach and closed her eyes.

"These are hospital sheets. Every bed here has them."

"I don't care what sheets these are! I want other! I hate white sheets! They dazzle my eyes!"

'_I need an aspirin' _the young female doctor thought to herself and then tried to smile her best smile, even if she's yelled at.

"I'll see what I can do.." she just replied and left the room as fast as possible.

It was already dark outside and Cameron's inner clock said something like midnight, but she knew, it only felt like that.

In the corridor she stopped and leaned against the wall to take some deeps breaths and calm down. That patient just made her feel sore.

"Did you do the tests again?" a voice ripped her off her dull and she opened her eyes lazily.

"Did you?" House asked again and Cam shook her head in reply. "He wants other sheets first. No other sheets, no tests." Her voice was calm and she eyed her boss wearily. Cameron knew, this was no excuse to him but this time she didn't care. Her head ached like hell and her shoulder just were stiff like a stone. House looked her over and sighed.

"Get some rest, I'll take care of this buffoon." With that he hobbled on into the patient's room. Cameron waited until her boss disappeared into the room, then she turned and decided to pour herself a coffee.

**HHHHHHHH**

For the ducklings it was the best for this day to go home. Since quitting time had been a few hours ago already, all three of them gathered together their belongings and started to make their way out of the hospital as suddenly a harsh voice called behind them through the corridor.

"Where the hell you think you going?!" House limped after them as fast as he was able to and stopped behind his three employees as they turned around.

"I haven't dismissed you yet." he snarled.

"Well, it's almost ten and we're going off now. Since there ain't anything we can do before that nerd gets his sheets together..." It was Chase who spoke first but immediately stayed quiet after the look House gave him.

"There are still some tests to be done," the Caneman stated and laid his eyes on Cameron who looked the most tired of all of them. "You'll be staying with the patient and continue your work after he's ready." With that he turned and was about to leave.

"Why me?!" Cam shouted behind him. "I already had enough of this guy for today. I'm sure the most useless test can wait till tomorrow!" She didn't actually mean to say those words, but was too tired to hold her spirit back. It was just not right of House to make her stay, since it wasn't necessary. The guys beside her winced at her outburst as House turned to them again, anger in his face.

"None of these tests are useless!" His voice raised and his fingers clung around the handle of his cane. "And since it was you I told to make the test again, it's you who'll be staying as long as you haven't done them!"

"Sonofabitch" Cameron muttered behind her breath, silent so that House couldn't hear it. But if she had said it out loud she would have seen the devilish smile that caught his lips as he left for his office.

**HHHHHHHH**

After a few hours Cameron came into the meeting room, thinking a bomb's ticking in her head. One could actually see the headache in her face. Frustrated she sat down on the table and took her head in both hands, rubbing her temples. Now the pain wasn't only in her head, it has spread out into her shoulders and back, that were still stiff. Her empty coffee mug was standing before her and shortly she was thinking about getting it refilled and hoping the coffee would ease her tired head and back. But Cameron just sat there, thinking about coffee and not getting it.

"Done the tests finally?" a voice asked from the dark conterminal room. Cam startled a bit and turned her head to see House standing in the glass door, leaning on his cane and holding a beer bottle in his other hand. He sounded much calmer now, his tone deep and sleepy.

"No." was all Cameron answered, rubbing her forehead. She expected a sarcastic or insulting comment coming from him, but he stayed silent, watched her and then limped over to the coffee machine to get him some.

"Why you still here?" The female doctor asked, not changing her position.

"Wilson all of a sudden left his hotel after some cockroaches crawled over his bed and is now staying on my couch. Wonder what he does when he meets my buddies." House took a sip of his coffee and came over to the table Cameron sat on. "I decided not to want his company tonight."

Another silent moment passed away and it seemed that House couldn't stand any quiet second in this room.

"You look horrible." he stated unimpressed and leaned on his cane again.

"Well, thank you, Dr. House. But I'm only taking compliments between nine and five." Cameron knew that he meant in an innocent way, but she was not in the mood to pick up his play.

"Want a pill?" he resumed.

"I've already taken one."

"Not one of these." House pulled out his bottle of vicodin and put it down in front of her.

"That is vicodin. You're really offering me one of your famous pills?" Cameron faked a surprised sound and shoved the bottle away from her.

"Since you've already taken some kind of painkiller and that apparently didn't do his work, yes - that's my offer."

"I won't take any of your damn drugs, House." She even turned her head away to make sure he'd get her point but House didn't care about that gesture at all.

"Come on. One pill won't kill you. It'll make you feel better and with any luck bring you a bit euphoria you obviously need."

"I won't take a drug pill only because I may seem a bit down. That's your business." she refused once more.

"You're repeating yourself." he snarled and turned to leave the room. "I bet it's going to be a long night since you won't find any sleep because of the headaches." House almost closed the door behind him as Cameron's voice stopped him.

"House!" she bawled out and looked at him. Maybe he was right, Cam thought to herself. He mostly was and since she was so keen to trust him in everything he does, why not now? She wasn't better as any patient she convinced that he was doing the right thing. And those headaches were killing her.

"Give me one."

If Cam would have been a patient of him, he'd first make sure that her organism would tolerate the med, but since she was a doc for herself, House didn't even think about it twice and limped over to her to pop a vicodin into her hand.

"Don't swallow it dry." he stated with a small smirk on his lips and watched her as she took the pill into her mouth, got up and filled her mug with some water to wash the drug down. He maybe watched her a bit longer as to make it not strinking to her and Cameron tilted her head a bit.

"Where you making sure I'd take the pill and not throw it away?" the brunette asked and actually smiled a bit at him. House raised his eyes to meet hers. A few seconds they looked at each other, feeling the weird tense in the room that's always there when both are alone and locked their eyes.

"If I want to use your drug-taking against you someday, I'll have to be sure you really took it." he murmured with a smirk, then turned around and made a second attempt to leave the room.

"I'll take care of that patient. You go home now and get some rest. I need you fresh tomorrow." and with that he closed the door behind him finally.

**HHHHHHHH**

On her way home, Cameron could feel the Vicodin doing it's effects and finally the headache disappeared and her back didn't feel that stiff anymore. She sighed and was looking forward to a relaxing night. The young doctor turned her car onto the even at night time busy mainstreet as her pulse suddenly quickened, then fell and a dizzy feeling came over her. The view before her eyes became bleary and then there was only a horrifying crack.

* * *

Chapter two will be up hopefully soon. Reviews are very appreciated:) Have to know if I should keep on writing ;) 


	2. Side Effects

**Chapter two**

**Side Effects**

First there was only silence. A peaceful nothingless and no feelings.Then there came the pain. She couldn't say, from where it came, but it was like a rush over her senses. A low moan escaped her throat and with that, all the sounds around her darted into presence. There was a hiss which seemed to come from the condenser, a sizzling noise that usually comes along with fire. And her own breath. Fast and afflicted of pain. She managed to open her eyes but they were greeted by darkness. All lights in the car were off and only the dim light of the streets came through the swatted metal.

After what it seemed like minutes Cameron shoot a glance to her right arm, that were hurting the most. A choked cry left her mouth at the sight of the weird angle where it protruded. She shortly wondered, why this wasn't hurting more, but fainted over the thought of it.

**HHHHHHH**

About the same time, House was about to throw a patient out of the hospital. He was almost furious about this guy. And this time he even had a good reason for it.

House had payed the patient a visit after he'd sent Cameron home.

"Why are you wasting my precious time?" he'd asked him.

"Who are you?" the patient seemed a bit shocked since it's the middle of the night.

"I'm Dr. House, your attending doctor and I'm going to send you home now." he'd just answered, took the patients file and signed the discharge papers.

"Hey! I'm sick!" the guy called out and was apparently not amused.

"You're just a moron!" House stated, "As I said, you're wasting my time... I could have had wild sex with a hooker by now, but I have to be here instead, because of YOU. So, drag your hypochondriac ass out of here."

House had left the patients room without looking at that guy twice and was now in Wilson's office to borrow the sofa for the night. He was tired and people who only think they're ill, made him even sleepier! Now he was lying on Wilson's sofa and fell asleep quite fast.

**HHHHHH**

The Emergency Room at Princton-Plainsboro was always busy. This night was no different and therefore no one was actually getting in a flap. The older emergency doctor who came with the newest car crash victim reported to the ward physician and had his paramedic bring in the young woman they've rescued out of her car.

"Oh dear..." a nurse cried out in shock as she recognized the womans face. "That's Dr. Cameron!"

The nurse watched Camerons face closely and smiled as she opened her eyes slowly.

"Dr. Cameron..." the nurse placed a hand on Cam's shoulder who winced at this kind gesture. She tried to speak, wanted to know how badly she's hurt but her throat felt scratchy and dry. Soon she realized that she was intubated. She felt the most pain in her body came from her arm, that was covered by several sheets. And by realizing how much pain she really felt, her vision got blurry again and slowly she blacked out again.

"Hurry! We need to bring her to the ICU! Now!" Words she could still hear while fainting, but they seemed far away and not even real anymore. "Resuscitation!"

**HHHHHH**

"House, wake up" a voice dragged him out of his sleep and he felt a hand on his arm. Grudgingly he opened one eye to see Wilson standing over him making a worried face.

"What? Did I pee on your sofa?" House asked huffy and peeked down. Of course this question was just rhetorical and he lifted himself into a sitting position. He must have been asleep for several hours, since it was already bright outside and Wilson did not look like he just got out of bed.

"You better go down to the ICU." The brown-eyed man said quietly and took a step back to avoid a uncomfortable contact with House's cane, which the older man had just picked up from the floor.

"Why? I hadn't even had a coffee yet." House muttered and searched for Vicodin in his pockets.

"It's Cameron." Wilson said and watched his friend closely.

"New case? Or does she just need daddy's help?" He couldn't find his pills and while he fumbled for them in each pocket he had on him, Wilson cleared his throat. "No, she's the patient."

The search instantly stopped and House's blue eyes pierced into Wilson's brown eyes.

"What happened?" he wanted to know but before Wilson even could open his mouth, Cuddy's voice cut him off.

"House! Where the hell have you been? I was searching for you around the whole building."

"Apparently not around the whole building, otherwise you'd found me here." House shortly said whilst pointing to the sofa, but then again stared at Wilson, still awaiting his answer.

"She got into a car accident last night and..."

"Why did no one tell me?!" House almost yelled at both of them now and Cuddy sighed soundlessly.

"No one knew that you were still here." Wilson tried to calm down his friend but House was already on his way to the ICU.

**HHHHHH**

"Am I going to die?" she asked cautiously. A tall man stood before her and shruged his shoulder. "I'm not the one to know."

"What happened?" was her next question, but the tall man only smiled at her and tilted his head a bit.

She looked around herself and couldn't make out anything familiar, only bright, blurry colors. Something blue in the distance, cold but calming.

"Where am I?" She was curious, everything seemed odd.

"Don't you know it?" Suddenly her surroundings changed and the tall man just looked at her.

"I still don't know where I am." Allison became edgy after she had another look around.

"Do you know where you been?" the man asked now and eyed her intense.

"No."

"There's the reason why you don't know where you're now." he clarified. But Allison couldn't understand any words he was saying. She looked down at herself and blinked as her arm was now bloody and apparently broken several times.

"That hurts..." she whispered and looked up at the man again. "Who are you?"

"I'm going to help you."

**HHHHHH**

Foreman and Chase almost rushed into the ICU. They found out where their collegue was, right after they entered the hospital.

"What happened?" Chase and Foreman asked almost simultaniously

Cuddy couldn't tell who asked, but well... that didn't matter at all. She was standing at one corner, her forehead wrinkled sorrowful as the men approached her. Simultaneously they looked at the direction Cuddy was looking in and saw House standing at Camerons bed, reading her file. They couldn't see his face but they were sure, he didn't look good at all.

"She got into a car crash." Cuddy told quietly. "Broke her legs, pelvis and her right arm. The arm's really bad. Fractured in several places and a clean break as well. She got cuts on her face and her abdomen got crushed. We think she got a whiplash too. They put her into a drug induced coma."

"Oh boy..." Foreman whispered, Chase just wiped his hands over his face trying to hide his emotions.

"Do you know something about Cameron taking drugs? The tox screen came back positive, she must have taken very strong painkillers."

Both men looked at each other and then back to Cuddy who still hadn't taken her eyes of Cameron and House.

"She took an aspirin or something like that yesterday. She complained about headaches." Chase informed Cuddy and that was the point on which the Dean now looked to the men. Her eyes were full of concern and compassion for the young female doctor. She wished, she could do something. Like always when someone she called almost a friend needed help. But there was nothing she could do right now. Neither Foreman and Chase could and so she just sighed and walked away.

Robert Chase was the first who took a deep breath and opened the glass door to Cameron's room and entered. He always felt more than sympathy for his female collegue and seeing her lying in a hospital bed made him to have a lump in his throat. She was lying there sp peacefully, only the brushes in her face and the monotonous beep of the medical equipment indicated that she's badly injured. House, who's still standing at her bedside looked at the younger man who entered the room, placed the file then back to from where he got it and turned around to leave.

"She needs rest, so don't upset her in any way." the Diagnostican murmured basely. Chase wanted to snort at him, but as he turned House was already gone and only Foreman was standing in the door frame.


	3. Dealing

AN: Thanks for the nice comments so far :) I really appreciate them!

Also thanks to my beta reader Steph, who did again a great job to make my mess readable :D Now, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Three Dealing

It was dark in his office. The blinds were down and he decided to leave it like that. He sat down on his chair heavily, leaned his cane against his desk and stared into the darkness. Cameron had been an accident, got injured and was now in coma. He remembered the weird feeling he had as he came into the ICU and saw her lying there. All those tubes stuck into a patient and the beeping of the machines never bothered him. It was necessary and just normal. But this time, the person on the bed wasn't normal to him. As he saw her, a big lump formed in his throat and he couldn't move for some seconds. He couldn't place the feeling he got, but could defenitely say that he didn't like it. She was pale and it seemed, something of her has vanished. He remembered reading her file, seeing the positive tox screen. It was impossible that Cameron took drugs. The only explaination left was the Vicodin he offered her -well, he more forced on her. But he just won't think about it. It couldn't have caused her accident.

Absentmindedly he took another of said pills and hoped that she'll be fine soon, working and smiling at him like she always did, even if he was mean to her. He never actually meant it, like it sometimes sounded and Cameron seemed to know. If he had meant to hurt someone, he'd do it and there would be no smile left afterwards.  
House pulled out his Ipod, adjusted his ear-phones and pressed play. Johnny Cash's dark and old voice sang into his ears, bland and caring. 'If you could read my mind, love, what a tale my thoughts could tell...' and so on. He liked this song. Piano and Guitar where always canny to him. The sound soothed him. Most of the time. But not today.  
'...And I will never be set free, As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see.'

"Damn..." he growled and put the headphones down. He didn't want to hear more songs that make him think. Why does he care anyway?  
"...damn..." He needed a distraction. He was not the type of man to worry about something...or someone. With a huff he got up, grabbed his cane, his jacket and left the hospital. He hurried so that no one would catch him on his way out. No talking about Cameron, feelings or maybe even that patient he had thrown out the night before.  
His bike stood in its usual place and a smile crawled over his face, as he reached it.

No time for worries.

The full sound of the motorbike roared around the hospital building as House took off.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the day went almost normal, if you can call it normal, that one of the doctors was lying in the ICU. Cuddy had to do her usual stuff - amongst it a complaint that came by letter from the patient that House apparently threw out during the night. A long sigh left Cuddy's mouth and she had to close her eyes for a moment. If the circumstances were different, she'd be in front of House by now and yelling at him. But she felt it wouldn't be appropriate right now. So she tried one thing she always tried to keep the complaint as small as possible. For her, her hospital and House. She called the guy in question.

"Hello..." an unsympathetic voice answered on the other end of the line.

"Mr. Pomeroy? This is Dr. Cuddy, Dean of the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. You've been a patient here until...well, last night. And I want to say that..." She was cut off by the man.

"I don't care what you want or don't want!" he blared at her, "I am sick! And one of your incapable doctors threw me out! Said I'm a hypochondric moron!"

Cuddy bit her lower lip and tried to stay calm. Sometimes she wished she'd be keen enough to fire House. But she wasn't and that's why she always had to clear up behind him.

"I'm extremely sorry, Mr. Pomeroy..." Cuddy stated, " Dr. House is really hard to handle, but to explain his action I only can say, that some of his collegues got into a car crash and..." Again she couldn't finish her sentence, this time due to the steady beep in the line. Mr. Pomeroy had hung up.

A moment after she stared flabbergasted at the telephone receiver she put it back on it's place, grabbed the complaint and decided to pass it to House. It's his fault in the end.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Where is he?" Cuddy asked as she entered the Diagnostic Department. Foreman and Chase sat at the table, both looking blank and staring into the distance. They didn't even notice that Cuddy came in, but then Chase lifted his eyes to the Dean and shrugged:

"Don't know. Haven't seen him since in the ICU."

"Me neither..." Foreman added and continued, "Anything new about Cameron?"

"No..." Cuddy answered quietly and looked around. "If you see House, send him to my office." With that she left again. The men just looked at eachother until Foreman raised his voice.

"I doubt that Cam's on drugs." he said. "They should do the test again. I mean, if she was on drugs, then it's her fault... the crash..." he rambled on, without knowing if Chase's listening at all.

"Who knows?" Chase was listening. "What do we do now?"

Foreman had no answer for that particular question.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next day, House still had not shown up and Cuddy tried to reach him unsuccessfully. He didn't pick up his cell phone and neither his home phone. Chase and Foreman constantly checked on Cameron's condition and where kind of disappointed that no changes appeared. But in the end, what were they thinking? It needed time.

And Dr. House? No one know where he was. Not even Wilson had hear of him, but he was at least sure, that his friend was at home. And he was the one who knew House the most and therefore he knew that it would be a waste of time to try to reach and talk to him. He hadn't expected that he'd react so devastated after Cameron's accident, but afterwards he came to the conclusion, that he might be right by thinking that House liked her.

A knock on Dr. Wilsons door pulled him out of his thought and he looked at his door. Cuddy came in, smiling apologetic and drained. Without a word she went over to the sofa and sat down with a sigh.

"He can't stay away all the time." Cuddy pointed out.

"He won't." Wilson knew and watched Cuddy with warm eyes. He was sure that his friend had a problem when it comes to dealing with his feelings. But he would adjust and then just mock about it. Although even he was surprised that House has disappeared.

"I'm sure he just has to take care of ... some things..." Wilson half-lied and decided to keep his surprise a secret to Cuddy. The Dean sighed again and looked up at her friend.

"Yes. Maybe. Inform me, when you talked to him, okay?" she asked for and stood again. As long as there wasn't a new case for the diagnostic department, Cuddy was willing to give House some time off. They couldn't work properly anyway with Cameron lying at the ICU.  
Wilson just nodded at watched Cuddy leave.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

As for House himself, he was in fact at home. The empty Jack Daniel's bottle on the sidetable indicated with what he'd spended the previous night. Now he was sitting on his piano, starring blank at the keys. Playing the piano always made him calm down and think straight again. But this time it wouldn't work. He couldn't come up with any calming piece of music to play. And that was something that made him even more miserable.

He didn't know how long he sat there until his phone rang. Again. He let it ring. The answering machine would do its work and he didn't have to talk to someone. As the machine turned on it was Cuddy who was speaking.

"House? I know you're there. Pick up the damn phone. Nothing's gonna change if you stay away!" She sounded solicitous, he thought and didn't move.

A sigh from the other end of the line. "House, she's getting worse. I...I thought you might want to come and have a look on her..."

Still he didn't move, but his eyes weren't staring into the distance anymore. He looked up, more heedful and more listening.

"We think it's pancreatitis. The crush must have been worser than we thought."

Again silence.

"House..." Cuddy gave up. "Please." With that she hung up. And House was still sitting at his piano, alerted now and struggled with himself. He had no need to see Cameron like this, but it seemed worser than he thought and maybe... maybe he could do something. So he made a decision, grabbed his cane to get dressed. Maybe he should just deal with it, push the worries away and start being his careless self again. Maybe.


End file.
